CAWPS: A Policewoman's Tale
by joycewu333
Summary: In Hoenn, where two criminal teams run amok along with drug dealers, pedophiles, crazy murderers and evil teenagers, the police department is having a hard time. Based on my playthrough of the Emerald rom hack Pokemon CAWPS, created by Crizzle.
1. Chapter 1: The Deadly Zigzagoon

**CAWPS**

joycewu333 does not own Pokémon. I also do not own Pokémon CAWPS, it's a rom hack of Emerald made by Crizzle and this is just my own documented play through. I do not know Crizzle in real life, I'm just writing about this hack because I've enjoyed it so far. "CAWPS" is an accented way of reading the word "COPS" (i.e. police).

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The deadly Zigzagoon**

A young woman with brown eyes and long black hair knocked on the door of the Odale Town police station. The door was answered by a policeman with a dark blue uniform and a grumpy expression.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked the policeman.

"My name is Clara, and I'm –"

"Get out of here, kid!"

"I'm not a kid anymore! I'm 21 years old, and I'm here to join Hoenn's police force." Said Clara.

The policeman looked incredulous. He noticed the lack of Pokéballs on Clara's waist, and laughed. "Not a chance in hell, loser! You don't even have a Pokémon for protection! You'll get killed in an instant!"

"That's why I came here." Said Clara. "I heard that police officers in training can obtain Growlithe as police dogs."

"You think a weak punk like you can handle this job? It's not a game, kid!"

"I do."

The policeman thought for a moment. "You know what? I'll give you a chance. Normally, only elite prospects are allowed into the police academy, but things have been boring lately. This will mix things up. It'll be hilarious watching you fail and die during training. You'll be a great punching bag!"

.

After Clara changed into the police trainee's uniform—a pale blue vest with a dark green shirt and a navy blue hat—they entered the police academy's training hall, where a chief officer gave all the students a speech.

"Pokémon are deadly creatures of massive force. They've got ridiculous abilities that are perfect for killing." He gestured to his intimidating gyarados. "Almost everyone's got a Pokémon and they use it for their own selfish desires. Our jobs as police officers are to control the general population and curb the misuse of Pokémon in Hoenn. You'll deal with murderers, drug dealers, thieves and rapists. You'll learn how to arrest, injure and kill all lawbreakers effectively! Remember with JUSTICE, there's NO room for mercy!"

"Before we begin, we need some DONUTS! Hey! Idiot in the back!" The chief officer pointed to Clara. "Get us some DONUTS from the Pokémon center."

 _I don't even like donuts._ Thought Clara, as she headed to the Pokécenter.

.

At the Pokécenter, Clara was greeted with the horrifying sight of four corpses and a screaming woman. A wild and abnormally fierce zigzagoon bared its sharp teeth and revealed its long bloodstained claws to her. A police officer hurriedly passed a bag to Clara.

"You'll have to stop it, kid!" he said breathlessly. "Grab one of those confiscated balls from my bag."

Clara stared at the three Pokéballs in the bag, feeling dazed and slightly scared. She took a deep breath, felt for the heaviest Pokéball and threw it, releasing a tiny aron. "Harden! Then tackle it when you get the chance!" She ordered.

The zigzagoon let out a menacing growl and charged towards the aron, but the aron managed to resist the attack using its iron coated skin. The aron then tackled the zigzagoon repeatedly, knocking it out after a few hits.

Clara and her colleague shared a sigh of relief. "You saved many lives, kid!" said the police officer. "You're special! Most trainees would have died. You can keep that Pokémon. It belonged to some dumb criminal. Let's head back."

"Wait…is that screaming woman ok? Does she need hospital attention?"

"I'm not badly hurt." Said the formerly screaming woman. "It's just so traumatic to watch four people die in a seemingly safe place…ah well, it's nothing that ice cream and soap operas can't fix."

Clara didn't know what to say.

.

After grabbing what remained of the Pokécenter donuts, Clara and her colleague reported back to a senior officer at Police Academy. The donuts seemed delicious after a stressful experience.

"I'm officer Flash!" Said the senior officer. "You've got some serious talent. So I've decided to personally foresee your training. You report to me from here on out! My style of training is totally different than the typical academy style. I'm gonna send you out on the field! It'll be action packed! Oh yeah, you wanna give that aron a nickname? It looks like a female."

"Sure." Said Clara. 'I'll name her Silverdust, since she has a silver-colored back and a dust-colored belly." The newly named Silverdust chirped happily and looked at Clara with light blue eyes.

"Every new officer also gets a growlithe." Said Flash, handing Clara a Pokéball. "This growlithe is male." Clara nicknamed the growlithe Sunblaze.

"When you complete my tasks, you'll officially graduate from the police academy! For your first task, you'll clean up the streets of Littleroot Town! Be through and come back when you're done."

"Cleaning up streets?" Asked Clara. "Isn't that a janitor's job?"

"I mean cleaning the streets of human scum! Criminals like drug dealers! Get it?"

And so Clara left for Littleroot Town, with Silverdust and Sunblaze in tow.

* * *

Note: The other two starters available are carvanha and zangoose. (I know right? The most random set of starters you can imagine. One of the reasons why I like this hack.) I just picked aron because I had never used it before.

I will try to have chapters 2 and 3 up within this week. This is my first fanfic and I have university life to deal with, so please don't be too harsh on me.

Please read, review, and try out Crizzle's hacks on Pokecommunity if you like this story!


	2. Chapter 2: The First Task

Joycewu333 does not own Pokémon. I also do not own Pokémon CAWPS, it's a rom hack of Emerald made by Crizzle and this is just my own documented play through.

 _Italics = Clara's thoughts_

Clara's team:

Aron (Silverdust) female, level 5 (Tackle, Harden)

Growlithe (Sunblaze) male, level 5 (Bite, Roar)

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The first task**

Before leaving for Littleroot, Clara decided to buy some potions at the Odale Pokémart. At the mart's door, a teenage girl and her torchic almost crashed into Clara. The girl had blue eyes, light brown hair and a red bandana, and she was holding a large bag of items. Clara recognized her as May, the daughter of professor Birch, and assumed that she was buying supplies for her father.

"Catch her, cop! She's a shoplifter!" Cried the shopkeeper. Clara was shocked.

May tried to run away, but Clara and her Pokémon blocked her way. "Go away or I'll kill you, cop!" May shouted. "Torchic, burn that cop down!"

Torchic breathed out a powerful ember, but Sunblaze jumped in front of Clara and absorbed the attack using his flash fire ability. He then bit the torchic until it fainted.

Clara was going to arrest May, but she had already escaped when Sunblaze was fighting the torchic. Clara picked up the unconscious torchic. _Poor torchic, abandoned by her trainer. I'll take it to back to Professor Birch at his lab in Littleroot Town. He probably gave that torchic to his daughter in the first place._

.

Clara remembered that Littleroot town was busier only a month ago, with several aspiring trainers visiting Professor Birch's research lab to receive their first Pokémon. Now, its streets were almost devoid of people.

 _Well, I still have to do my job._ She thought. _Let's return this torchic to Professor Birch first._

.

Clara knocked on the door of the leftmost house, and was greeted by a middle aged woman.

"Do you know where Professor Birch lives?" She asked the woman.

"Professor Birch was killed by a wild poochyena." The woman said. "After his death, nobody dared to go out of town without a Pokémon."

 _Why are the wild Pokémon becoming so hostile?_ _Is something driving them mad?_

"Are there other people living in your house?" Asked Clara.

"There's my son Brendan." Said the woman. "He's a great young man. I only wish his father, Norman, was around more."

"Police Officer Flash has asked me to investigate criminal activity at Littleroot Town. Mind if I check Brendan's room upstairs?"

"Sure, but he's no criminal. He's perfect." Said Brendan's mother.

.

Upon entering Brendan's room, however, Sunblaze the growlithe barked immediately, sniffing and pointing at an inconspicuous box in the room. A note on the box read: "Dear Jim, another shipment of cash will be headed your way. Dealing cocaine and marijuana has been easy and profitable." An absent-minded Brendan stood beside the box, walking in odd circles and muttering to himself.

"You're arrested for being a drug dealer!" Shouted Clara.

"OMG! It's a cop! You can't have my drugs! U DIE NOW!" Cried Brendan, sending out a pale and shivering mudkip. _This guy is also feeding drugs to his Pokémon?_

The mudkip let out a high-pitched, twisted shriek ( _is it trying to use growl?_ ) and threw some mud at Sunblaze, covering his eyes. Sunblaze tried to bite the mudkip, but he missed and crashed into Brendan's bedroom wall. The mudkip turned towards Clara and tackled her, causing her to stumble. _Things are getting out of hand! I'd better act quickly!_

"Sunblaze, roar!" Ordered Clara, covering her own ears. Sunblaze roared loudly, startling the mudkip and forcing it to stagger backward. Clara took advantage of this to send out Silverdust, who wiped the mud off Sunblaze's eyes. Silverdust then tackled the mudkip on its left side while Sunblaze used bite on its right side. The mudkip vomited a pile of disgusting yellow fluid before fainting.

.

"Noooo!" Cried Brendan. "I'm not ready for prison!"

"You shouldn't have been selling drugs in the first place. If you wanted to make money you could have trained your mudkip and beat other trainers for prize money." Said Clara, as she put handcuffs on Brendan and took Brendan's drug money.

Backup cops quickly came and took Brendan to jail. Brendan's mother was distraught. She claimed that Brendan's illegal actions were "all his father's fault", but the police ignored her.

.

After healing her Pokémon with some spare potions, Clara took the torchic to the rightmost house, which is where Professor Birch's wife lived. Mrs. Birch was feeling very lonely after her husband died and her daughter ran away from home. After Clara told her about the torchic, she promised to take care of it and keep it as a companion.

.

Clara then entered Professor Birch's former lab, where a man was injecting a strange liquid into the corpses of two lab assistants. "To revive Birch, I need more human sacrifices…" muttered the man.

"Are you mad? You're just using professor Birch as an excuse to kill more people!" Shouted Clara.

The man lunged towards Clara. "You're NEXT!" He cried, sending out a zigzagoon. Clara recognized it as the same murderous zigzagoon she had seen in Odale this morning.

Silverdust didn't need an order from her trainer. She lunged at the zigzagoon, trying to tackle it. Sunblaze also joined the fight, running towards zigzagoon's tail with his jaws open. However, the zigzagoon nimbly dodged both attacks, causing Clara's Pokémon to crash into each other. The madman cackled when he saw this.

"The zigzagoon's faster this time! Don't attack at once! Silverdust, tackle it after Sunblaze uses roar!"

This time, Silverdust managed to hit the zigzagoon, but it was barely fazed by the tackle. Zigzagoon used headbutt on Sunblaze, causing a large amount of damage. Sunblaze slipped on the muddy floor of the disused lab as he collapsed.

 _If only Silverdust had a better attack than tackle…something like mudkip's mud-throwing attack would be great…wait, maybe Silverdust can also use something like that? Since the floor is so muddy?_ "Silverdust, try throwing mud at the zigzagoon!"

After a failed attempt, Silverdust managed to blind the zigzagoon with mud. She then tackled the zigzagoon until it fled in terror.

The madman roared with outrage as he charged towards Clara with raised fists. "I'll kill you myself!"

With surprising strength, Silverdust blocked the hit. She threw lots of mud into the man's mouth, causing him to sputter and gag. Sunblaze, who had recovered from Zigzagoon's headbutt, jumped up and viciously bit the man's throat. The man collapsed and did not get back up. _Did I just…kill him? Did I need to do that?_

The chief officer's voice rang in Clara's ears. "Remember with JUSTICE, there's NO room for mercy!" _I suppose so…if I had killed the zigzagoon the first time I met it, I could have saved the lives of these lab assistants. By killing this madman now, I might save the lives of other Littleroot citizens. It's been a long day, I'd better head back to Police Academy and report to Officer Flash._

But a small twinge of guilt remained in her mind at the thought of her first kill.

* * *

Please read, review, and try out Crizzle's hacks if you like this story!

(I made this story a bit more positive than the hack itself…)


	3. Chapter 3: The Second Task

Joycewu333 does not own Pokémon. I also do not own Pokémon CAWPS, it's a rom hack of Emerald made by Crizzle and this is just my own documented play through.

 _Italics = Clara's thoughts_

Clara's team will be described in the chapter, rather than in the author's notes.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The second task**

The next morning, Clara reported to Officer Flash.

"You've completed your first training mission, good job!" said Officer Flash. "I heard you made a couple of arrests and even a kill! As a reward, I'll give you a Pokédex, five Pokéballs and a pair of running shoes!"

"Thanks," said Clara uneasily. "But where did you get the Pokédex from?"

"It was Brendan's, but we confiscated all his items when we arrested him."

Clara looked up Silverdust and Sunblaze in the Pokédex.

 **Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. A Pokémon that is clad in steel armor. A new suit of armor is made when it evolves. The old, discarded armor is salvaged as metal for making iron products. This aron is female, and her ability is rock head. She is at level 8 and knows the moves tackle, harden and mud-slap.**

 **Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. Its superb sense of smell ensures that this Pokémon won't forget any scent, no matter what. It uses its sense of smell to detect the emotions of others. This growlithe is male, and his ability is flash fire. He is at level 7 and knows the moves bite, roar and ember. His held item is a charcoal.**

"Nice Pokémon," commented officer Flash. "But they'll definitely need more training for the upcoming missions. For the second part of your training, I want you to check out route 102 and Petalburg City. Be thorough! And DON'T challenge the Petalburg Gym, because you need to focus on your job and gyms are for SLACKERS. Come back when you're done."

.

On route 102, Clara encountered a small grey hyena-like Pokémon. Although the wild poochyena had sharp fangs, it looked relatively timid. Clara decided to capture it, sending Silverdust out to weaken it first.

Silverdust used mud-slap to cover the Poochyena's eyes. However, the poochyena's strong sense of smell allowed it to pinpoint and successfully tackle Silverdust, even with its eyes covered. Silverdust was taken aback for a moment, but she quickly recovered and tackled the poochyena. The poochyena tried to run away from Silverdust, but Clara managed to catch it with a Pokéball before it could escape. She looked up poochyena on the Pokédex.

 **Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon. It savagely threatens foes with bared fangs. It chases after fleeing targets tenaciously. It turns tail and runs, however, if the foe strikes back. This poochyena is female, and her ability is run away. She is at level 5 and knows the moves tackle and howl.**

"Would you like to be called Nightfang?" Clara asked. The poochyena barked happily.

.

While Clara was training her three Pokémon against the trainers on route 102, a man in Petalburg City was quietly stalking his "prey": a 9-year old little girl. Upon the man's orders, a pichu hopped over to the little girl, using charm to lure her away from her parents and towards the man's house.

"This pichu is sooo cute!" Shouted the little girl. "Is it yours? Can I pet it and feed it?"

"Sure." The man replied with a lascivious grin. "Come inside."

As the little girl sat on the man's bed, petting the pichu gently, the pichu suddenly used thunder wave to paralyze her. The girl squealed in alarm as the man pulled her towards him.

.

At this moment, Clara entered the man's house. The man cursed under his breath when he saw Clara, realizing that he had forgotten to lock the door.

"Help! I want mommy and daddy!" Cried the little girl.

"It's not what it looks like!" The man protested.

"Really?" Asked Clara, sending out her Pokémon.

"I'll have to kill you. Pichu, thundershock the cop."

The man's pichu shot out a jolt of electricity towards Clara. Sunblaze blocked the attack, but the thundershock was surprisingly powerful and caused him to be paralyzed. The pichu then used quick attack, but Silverdust blocked the move and retaliated with a mud-slap. While the pichu staggered around blindly, Sunblaze managed to overcome his paralysis and use ember on the tiny mouse. Nightfang then tackled the pichu, knocking it out.

.

"What?!" Cried the man.

"Shame on you, pedophile!" Cried Clara.

The man was arrested and taken to prison, while Clara took the little girl back to her family.

Clara went to the Pokécenter for dinner and Pokémon healing.

.

After dinner, Clara patrolled the rest of Petalburg City, finding almost nothing eventful until she came to the Mitsuru household. It was a large house beside the Petalburg Gym. A flower patch was outside the house, but the flowers were all dead: some of them had their petals and leaves ripped off, while others had their stems bent in unnatural angles. Clara sent out her Pokémon and entered the house with caution.

.

In the bedroom, there was nobody but a small and frail-looking boy with tea green hair. He had a wild and prideful look in his ice-blue eyes. A ralts, who looked just as frail as his trainer, sat beside him. The room was filled with the scent of death.

"Another weakling has arrived…" He murmured. He glanced at Clara for a moment, then pointed to the wardrobe in the bedroom. The wardrobe's doors were flung open by ralts' telekinetic forces, revealing three corpses with twisted limbs and horror-filled faces. Clara gasped when she saw a police officer uniform on one of the corpses.

"I admit it, officer." He stated. "I killed these two worthless beings known as my parents."

.

"You're arrested for first degree mur—"

"SILENCE." Interrupted the boy. A psychic barrier formed around Clara and her Pokémon, blocking their escape. Clara tried to issue orders to her Pokémon, but Ralts' powers gripped her throat like claws, preventing her from speaking.

.

"I also killed your pathetic colleague", he said, gesturing to the officer's corpse. "You have to understand something. I am a genius, the light of this generation. A man who will change the course of history! This world will know my name! It will be chanted on the rooftops! All the fair maidens of Hoenn will bear my many children. It's my destiny! Anyone who gets in my way will DIE! I, WALLY, shall end your life! Good riddance!"

.

The invisible claws tightened, and Clara realized that she could no longer breathe.

* * *

 ***Sunblaze's POV***

 _That annoying, pompous green-haired scumbag! How DARE he act like the king of the world? How DARE he try to kill my master? I'll destroy him right now!_

I tried to charge up an ember, but nothing happened. I realized that I couldn't move—I was held in place by ralts' psychic barrier. I struggled against the barrier, trying to find—or make—a way out.

 _Oh no you don't._ Said the ralts. _Stay where you are, naughty puppy._

"Don't worry, I've got this covered!" Shouted Nightfang, jumping through the barrier as if it were thin air. "I'm a dark type after all."

"Wait", I cautioned. "It might have other tricks up its sleeve—"

But Nightfang was already charging towards the ralts, teeth bared. She collided with ralts in a full-on tackle…

Only to pass straight through ralts and crash into the bedroom wall.

"What the *bleep*? That *bleeping* hurts!" Yelled a bruised Nightfang. "I think I broke my leg!"

.

 _Think I didn't see that coming?_ Taunted the ralts.

I was as shocked as Nightfang was. _What just happened? It's as if the ralts made a fake copy of itself…oh yes, it's double team! I'd better attack the ralts before it uses double team again!_

"I'm coming to help you Nightfang!" I cried, and I gnawed at the barrier. However, several confusion attacks seemed to be embedded in the barrier: every time I touched it, it gave me a massive headache. The "cute" growls emitted by the ralts only distracted me even more, making me feel terribly exhausted and helpless.

.

"Don't worry about me, our trainer is dying!" Said Nightfang. "We have to defeat that ralts!"

"I'm…too tired…Silverdust…please help…" I whimpered. However, Silverdust was curled up in a corner with her eyes closed. _That lazy bum!_ I thought. _She's our strongest team member, yet she's not doing a single thing to help!_

 _Pathetic._ Sneered the ralts. _You've given up before you can land a single scratch on me. Look at your trainer: her face is turning blue from lack of oxygen. All of you will die soon._

"Silverdust?! Do something!" I demanded. Nightfang seemed to be saying something to me, but I could perceive nothing but pain. It took all of my remaining strength to prevent myself from blacking out.

.

Suddenly, my headache was lifted. Silverdust had pinned ralts to the floor with her massive weight, and there was a large hole in the psychic barrier. I quickly leapt through the hole and bit the ralts' head, knocking it out. Our master collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

"This isn't over!" Exclaimed the green-haired scumbag. "It's just a fluke. I haven't awakened my full potential yet. Very soon, I will have vengeance."

Our master tried to arrest him, but an abra suddenly materialized and teleported him away.

.

"That was awesome! Wh-what did you just do?" I asked Silverdust.

"I could tell that the ralts was very powerful, so I pretended to sleep, trying to escape its notice." Silverdust replied. "The ralts thought that I had given up, but in fact I was repeatedly hardening my head to prepare for my newly learned headbutt. When you and Nightfang have been defeated, ralts let down its guard. I managed to smash through the barrier and cause the ralts to flinch."

"Wow…you just saved all of our lives…have you used this play-dead tactic before?"

"Yes…I learned this technique from my previous trainer. Although he was a low-ranked criminal and a relatively incompetent battler, he managed to escape arrest several times using this tactic until he was caught by a senior police officer. I miss him, but now I don't mind being with Clara. She's a nice person."

"Yup." I agreed. "And the police donuts she feeds us are delicious!"

* * *

Having escaped a near-death experience, Clara no longer wished to stay in Petalburg City. She and her Pokémon hurried back to the Police Academy in Odale Town, and she related the events of the day to Officer Flash.

"…the nurse at the Odale Pokécenter said that Nightfang's broken leg would take three days to heal, so I won't be able to use her for the next mission." She finished.

"A perp got away using teleport?"

Clara nodded.

"Don't sweat it, kid." Officer Flash reassured, taking out a bag of donuts. "Eat some donuts, it'll make you feel better."

"Donuts…again?" Asked Clara. "Sorry, but I have no appetite now. I feel dizzy, like I'm going to throw up…"

"Don't worry, you've done so well!" Said Flash. "Go to your room and rest, I've got two awesome rewards for you."

.

Clara returned to her room to find a police-issued Mach bike, an orange disk-like object and a note from officer Flash:

"This orange disk is TM35 flamethrower! It'll turn your growlithe into a killing machine! Hopefully that would keep you safe. Rest well and prepare for your last mission tomorrow: cleaning up the Petalburg Woods! If you succeed, you'll graduate from the academy!"

Clara whooped with joy. She wanted to teach flamethrower to Sunblaze immediately, but the growlithe was already asleep. Clearly he was exhausted.

 _And so am I._ She thought as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

 **Did you like the Pokémon POV? Should I do more of them? Any Hoenn (non-legendary) Pokémon you want Clara to catch?**

 **Please leave a review commenting on the story so far! I am relatively busy, so I will not update until I have received at least one review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Criminal Gangs

Joycewu333 does not own Pokémon. I also do not own Pokémon CAWPS, it's a rom hack of Emerald made by Crizzle and this is just my own documented play through.

.

Thank you nocloudypooh for giving the first review! I appreciate your advice, and I have tried to add more characters' thoughts into this chapter. This fic takes about 35% of its content from the game Pokémon CAWPS, and the rest is from my imagination. This chapter includes three different POVs, so we'll get to hear the voices of Clara, one of Clara's Pokémon, and another person. (Who is that person? Read and find out!)

 **Also, a big thank you to Crizzle, who read this fanfic and PMed me about how he appreciated it!** You have given me motivation to continue and eventually finish this story with my best efforts!

This story now has more than 100 views! As a reward to you readers, this chapter is twice as long as the previous chapter!

* * *

 _Italics = Clara's thoughts_

Clara's team:

Aron (Silverdust) female, level 10 (Tackle, Harden, Mud-slap, Headbutt) Holds: Oran Berry

Growlithe (Sunblaze) male, level 10 (Bite, Roar, Ember, Flamethrower) Holds: Charcoal

Poochyena (Nightfang) female, level 9 (Tackle, Howl, Sand-attack) Holds: Oran Berry

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Criminal Gangs**

The next morning, Clara taught Sunblaze flamethrower and ate breakfast with her Pokémon. She then trained Sunblaze in the Police Academy's target practice room, since Sunblaze was unused to the high power of flamethrower, and she didn't want to start a forest fire in Petalburg Woods. Silverdust and Nightfang also repeatedly attacked sandbags in order to practice their headbutt and tackle, respectively.

.

After practice, Clara and her Pokémon headed out to route 104. A pleasant and salty sea breeze was blowing over their faces.

Clara spotted a few people on the beach.

"Had anything bad happened recently in Petalburg Woods?" She asked them.

"Mr. Briney, an old sailor, was killed by Team Aqua." Said a woman. "He only had a wingull to fight them with."

"So many people are dying in Petalburg Woods!" Cried a man. "This sucks! Do something about it!"

.

A fellow police officer was guarding the entrance to Petalburg Woods. "Hi Clara", he said. "Let me brief you on this mission. You need strong Pokémon to 'clean up' the Petalburg Woods!"

"I've got strong Pokémon", said Clara. "My Growlithe knows Flamethrower."

"Don't underestimate your opponents, kiddo!" Warned the policeman. "Petalburg Woods is a very dangerous place. Neither Hoenn's government nor Petalburg City is responsible for anything that happens here! Besides, a flamethrower won't do much damage to any thugs with water Pokémon."

Clara pictured a ferocious sharpedo biting off Sunblaze's head, and shuddered with fear.

"Can you please help me with this task?" She asked. "You don't want the thugs to kill me right?"

"I can't fight the thugs with you as I'm on guard duty, but I do think you deserve some help…" replied the guard thoughtfully. He searched through his bag and pulled out a brown disc. "This is the TM for rock tomb." He said, handing the disc to Clara. "It's a move that dumps rocks on the opponent! That might lower their speed or even stop them for escaping! Perfect for trapping and executing thugs! It's not perfect for me, though, as none of my Pokémon can learn it…"

.

Clara smiled and thanked the policeman, then held the TM in front of Silverdust.

The aron sniffed the TM and chirped happily, opening her tiny jaws.

"Hey, this isn't your lunch!" Cried Clara, pulling the TM away right before the aron's jaws closed. However, Silverdust seemed to treat it like a game and chased the TM eagerly. Clara was bewildered. "Why would you want to eat this?"

"Uh…TMs, like compact discs, are made from metal", said the policeman, laughing. "It's the first time I've seen a Pokémon try to eat one, though."

Clara realized that she had forgotten to feed Silverdust this morning. She took out and opened a bag of scrap metal for the aron. "Sorry for not feeding you this morning, Silverdust! But you can't eat that! Have this instead!"

.

After Clara waited for Silverdust to finish her meal and explained to her what a TM was, she learned Rock Tomb and forgot Tackle. With some trepidation, she and her Pokémon entered Petalburg Woods.

Unlike the eerily quiet Mitsuru household, Petalburg Woods was terribly noisy. Several people were singing and dancing like crazy on a large tree stump. A young man tried to sell her some "magical" drugs. When Clara refused, the man sent out a shroomish and a wurmple to attack her.

 _A grass-type and a bug-type? This will be easy!_ "Sunblaze, flamethrower on the shroomish!" Ordered Clara. The shroomish fainted instantly. Clara's growlithe then breathed a stream of fire towards the wurmple, but the man quickly sent out a slakoth and a baltoy, which took the attack for the wurmple. Sunblaze tried to bite the baltoy, but the wurmple had rapidly used string shot to bind the growlithe's legs. It then propelled itself up a nearby tree using the suction cups on its feet. While Sunblaze was being immobilized by the silk and being blinded by Baltoy's mud-slaps, the wurmple used several poison stings on its side of the string shot. The poison from the poison stings dripped down the silk like water dripping down from a wet cloth, turning the white silk purple.

 _I didn't know that poison sting can be used as a long-distance attack! Sunblaze is in danger!_ "Use ember to burn the string!" shouted Clara. However, Sunblaze was already howling in pain as he had become poisoned. "Silverdust, use rock tomb to cut the string!"

The aron summoned a pile of sharp rocks that cut the silk, allowing Sunblaze to run towards the tree and defeat the wurmple with flamethrower. The knocked-out worm Pokémon collapsed on a tree root. Nightfang then tackled the baltoy repeatedly until it was knocked out, and Silverdust defeated the slakoth with headbutt.

.

The man's expression changed from glee to dismay when he saw his Pokémon faint. "Worthless Pokémon!" he muttered angrily. "You can't even defend the drugs from some stupid cop!" He began punching the Pokemon nearest to him, which happened to be wurmple. "Useless bug!" He shouted and kicked the wurmple again, who was whimpering in pain.

"STOP abusing your Pokémon and tell me who gave you these drugs." Demanded Clara. Nightfang growled threateningly.

"T-team Magma! They're cool and—and their drugs make me—jiggle with excitement!" Sputtered the man.

"You know Brendan of Littleroot Town?" Asked Clara. "He's in prison now, and you'll be joining him soon."

The man's eyes widened as he was handcuffed and his Pokémon were released.

.

Clara offered Sunblaze a pecha berry to cure his poison. She also fed an oran berry to the wurmple, who was too weak to move. Even after eating the oran berry, the wurmple still had several nasty bruises, so she sprayed a potion on its wounds.

"There, you're good to go!" Said Clara. "Don't let your previous trainer discourage you, he was under the influence of drugs and wasn't thinking straight. You're already pretty strong for a wurmple: that trick you played with poison sting and string shot was pretty neat."

The wurmple looked at Clara gratefully, then crawled closer to her.

"Wurmple wurm!" It said to Silverdust, as if asking for her permission. Silverdust nodded and pointed to the Poké balls pocket on Clara's bag.

Clara was pleasantly surprised. "You want to join my team?" The wurmple nodded happily. "But, er…my Pokémon just beat you up a few minutes ago! You don't mind that?" Seeing no objections from wurmple, she proceeded to catch it in a Pokéball and looked it up in the Pokédex.

.

 **Wurmple, the Worm Pokémon. It sticks to tree branches and eats leaves. The thread it spits from its mouth, which becomes gooey when it touches air, slows the movement of its foes. This wurmple is male, and his ability is shield dust. He is at level 8 and knows the moves tackle, string shot and poison sting.**

"Would you like a nickname, wurmple?" Clara asked. Wurmple nodded.

"Let me think…you use your tiny red spikes to attack, but 'Redspikes' would be a pretty strange name…how about Redspots? According to the Pokédex, you can become a beautifly or a dustox eventually, and both have red spots on their wings."

Redspots seemed happy with his new name, but he seemed a bit hesitant when Clara mentioned beautifly and dustox.

"Don't worry, you don't need to train for evolution right now." Said Clara, "I can see that you're still tired from your previous fight."

.

Clara continued onward with her Pokémon, searching every corner of Petalburg Woods for criminals. Soon they spotted one: a young Team Aqua grunt, who was hiding in a bush with his Poochyena and watching his target—a Devon Corp. employee carrying a large package. Clara sent out Sunblaze to fight the grunt, and Redspots to observe the fight in order to gain battle experience.

"Sunblaze, force that grunt out of the bushes with roar, then defeat his poochyena with a flamethrower." Whispered Clara. Sunblaze obeyed Clara's orders. The poochyena tried to bite Sunblaze, but the growlithe dodged agilely. The poochyena used sand-attack on Sunblaze, but Sunblaze rapidly shook off the sand. He then finished off the poochyena with another flamethrower.

.

"Wh-what just happened?" Asked the Devon employee.

"That grunt tried to steal your package, sir." Answered Clara. "But my Pokémon stopped him from doing so."

"Whew, that was scary. Thanks, cop!" Said the employee. "How can I repay you? I could give you something valuable"—he rummaged around in his bag—"but I'm cheap so here's a great ball."

"Wait, I need to arrest that grunt first—" Interrupted Clara. But the Team Aqua grunt had already recalled his poochyena and fled in terror.

"Take this great ball before you go!" Said the employee. "So that I can tell my boss that I rewarded the cop who saved me."

"I don't need a great ball, I need to chase after that Team Aqua grunt!"

The employee looked puzzled. "You've already defeated him and stopped him from stealing my goods. You don't need to do anything else."

"My colleagues told me to execute every single thug!"

"That grunt isn't really a thug! He's just a young boy that got mixed up with Team Aqua!"

"Shut up! You're annoying and selfish yourself, don't act like a humanitarian and don't tell me what to do! YOU'RE NOT A COP!" Shouted Clara.

Intimidated by Clara's outburst, the employee picked up his package and left quickly.

.

"Wurmple wurm wurm!" Cried Redspots, inching away from Clara and shaking his head.

"Sorry Redspots, I shouldn't have yelled at that Devon employee." Said Clara. "…I was actually angry at myself, really, for not being able to arrest or execute that Team Aqua grunt. I felt like I've failed this task already, since I allowed a criminal to escape and to possibly warn his stronger allies."

"Wurm, wurmple wurm." Said Redspots gently.

"Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't be so hard on myself." Replied Clara. "We've already cleaned up most of Petalburg Woods." Redspots nodded.

 _And maybe…maybe that Devon employee was right. Maybe letting that Team Aqua grunt escape was the right thing to do. He did look very young, perhaps no older than 14…maybe he isn't actually evil? Maybe he joined Team Aqua due to immense peer pressure or something? Damn I shouldn't be thinking about this, a police officer isn't supposed to show mercy. If I keep pitying the criminals, I'll really fail this task and fail to graduate from Police Academy. That'll really suck._

.

Clara was about to continue her patrol of Petalburg Woods, when Sunblaze barked and pointed at a shiny blue object in the ground. Clara picked it up and realized that it was a TM. The words "TM03 Water Pulse" were etched on the TM's surface.

 _I suppose that Team Aqua grunt accidentally dropped it._ Thought Clara, placing the TM into the TMs and HMs case. _I doubt any of my Pokémon can learn it, but maybe later on I can get a good water-type to teach this TM to?_

 ***Team Aqua grunt's POV***

I came to Petalburg Woods for a mission assigned by Team Aqua admin Shelly. My plan was to catch a surskit in the woods and teach it water pulse, then ambush the Devon employee using surskit's and poochyena's attacks in order to steal his goods. Thanks to that damn cop, who defeated my poochyena and stole my water pulse TM, this plan had completely failed. _And I spent so much effort getting that TM, too! It was a reward for two successful missions in a row!_

.

Poochyena had been my Pokémon for three years: although he wasn't a very powerful battler, he was now my only friend. He was whimpering in pain within his Pokéball: a flamethrower attack from the cop's growlithe had inflicted some second degree burns on him. Seeing poochyena's burn marks reminded me of my childhood bullies. They had joined Team Magma recently and two months ago, they had bullied me again with their fire type Pokémon's attacks, and gave me my own burn marks. Although my burn marks have partially healed by now, I felt my poochyena's pain as sharply as if it were my own. _Joining the criminal gang Team Aqua wasn't what I initially wanted to do with my life, but at least I can earn some quick money for every mission I manage to scrape past…at least Team Aqua can protect me from those horrible bullies in Team Magma…_

.

"Don't worry poochyena, I'll get you healed at a Pokécenter as soon as possible." Thinking about Pokécenters, however, reminded me that there were lots of things to worry about. _Petalburg Woods has two exits, which lead to Petalburg City and Rustboro City respectively. However, Shelly had told us that the Petalburg City exit is guarded by other cops, so I can't go there. That leaves Rustboro City, but this part of Petalburg Woods is quite far from Rustboro City! What if I meet other dangers on the way? What if I run into Team Magma?_

.

I tried my best to put my fears aside, and dashed towards the Rustboro exit of Petalburg Woods, with a half-crumpled map of the woods in hand. _Thanks goodness I grabbed this map before my mission, or I'd be hopelessly lost by now._ After about five minutes of running, the exit was finally in sight. But something else was also in sight…two dreaded people in fiery red uniforms blocked my way.

 _Speak of the devil! I'm doomed!_ I muttered. The Team Magma grunts sent out a numel and a houndour.

"Please let me go," I begged. "I won't interfere with your plans. I—I'm just going to Rustboro City t—to heal my Pokémon."

The two grunts laughed as if I was a joke.

"So your Pokémon have all fainted?" Asked the female grunt with mock concern.

"That would make killing you much easier." Conclude the male grunt.

I screamed and struggled as I was engulfed by flames.

.

 ***Silverdust's POV***

We were patrolling Petalburg Woods with our trainer when Sunblaze sniffed the air and stiffened in alarm.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"I smell smoke!" Said Sunblaze with an alarmed expression. He sniffed the air again. "I also think I smell…the scent of burning flesh!"

"Somebody must be in trouble!" I shouted. Sunblaze and I dashed towards the smoke. My trainer followed hurriedly, running as fast as her two legs could carry her. _I wonder what it is like to run on two legs instead of four. Wouldn't it be difficult to maintain one's balance?_

.

At the source of the smoke, we were greeted with another horrifying sight. Two red-clothed humans, one male and one female, were blocking the exit to Petalburg Woods. Two charred corpses were piled in front of them.

 _That blue-clothed young boy from before…he's dead! And so was that "annoying" green-clothed man that my trainer yelled at. These people are probably tough._

"You look like a pussy!" The male one said to Clara. "And pussies get WRECKED, just like these two scumbags over here." Said the female one.

"I'm not a pussy, I'm a cop." My trainer said.

"Team Magma ain't scared of no cops! A dead cop's organs would be worth even more on the black market!"

 _Black market for organs? What in the world is that?_ I noticed a horrified expression passing over my trainer's face, before solidifying into anger and determination. _So a black market is probably something really, really bad—worse than being deprived of scrap metal for three days._

"I suppose you get quick cash through drug dealing too, don't you?" My trainer retorted. "You don't need a dead cop's organs. You need jail."

.

The two red-clothed people sent out six Pokémon at once: two poochyena, a zubat, a bagon, a numel and a houndour. My trainer sent all of her Pokémon—including me—into battle, but warned Redspots to stay safe.

Sunblaze made the first move, knocking out a poochyena with his flamethrower attack, while I quickly defeated the zubat with a rock tomb. Numel used an ember, which I dodged easily. _Thanks Arceus-that slow and stupid-looking camel can't aim properly. That'll give me time to deal with the other Pokémon first._

.

Sunblaze aimed a flamethrower at the other poochyena, but the houndour raced towards the flames and gobbled them up the way I would devour a pile of iron. "You think you're so smart just because you know flamethrower? Well thanks for the help, doggie." He said, laughing.

"Stop using flamethrower!" I shouted to Sunblaze. "That houndour's ability is flash fire! Flames would just power it up!"

"I'll bite it then!" Sunblaze leaped towards houndour angrily, his teeth bared, but the dark Pokémon had Sunblaze's neck in his jaws before I knew it. _Unfortunately, that houndour's bite is stronger._

.

"Let him go!" Shrieked Nightfang. With a well-aimed sand-attack, she shot a stream of sand into houndour's mouth. Redspots helped by shooting a poison sting into houndour's right nostril. While the houndour was howling in pain and trying to spit the sand out of his oral cavity, Sunblaze managed to escape his jaws and defeated the opponent's poochyena with flamethrower. He then bit the opponent's bagon viciously. In response, the bagon roared and launched a swirling cyclone towards Sunblaze, knocking him out cold. _I've never seen that attack before, but I've heard of it…was it called dragon anger or something?_ Nightfang tackled the bagon while I attacked it with rock tomb. However, one of the rocks meant to hit the bagon landed on Nightfang's head, knocking out Nightfang and Bagon at the same time. _Curse the accuracy of this attack!_

.

"You won't beat us!" I shouted as Clara returned Sunblaze and Nightfang to their Pokéballs. "We've already defeated more than half of your team!"

"You think you've won?" Asked the numel. "Look around you."

I finally realized why the numel's attacks were so easy to dodge. It weren't aiming directly at me.

It was aiming at the trees and bushes around us. Now a roaring circle of fire surrounded Redspots and I, the only Pokémon able to battle. Redspots tried to squirm away from the flames, but he ended up tripping over a tree root.

"So painful…must…continue…fighting…"he panted.

"Redspots, get back in your Pokéball now! I'll handle this!" I shouted.

"Two…on one…not…fair…" panted Redspots.

"A dead wurmple would be even worse!" I said with exasperation. Redspots sighed and returned to his Pokéball.

I turned to face houndour and numel, launching five rocks towards them with my rock tomb. Houndour dodged all of the rocks swifly, then turned to bite my hindquarters (ouch). One of the rocks managed to hit numel, but the numel maintained her vacant stare and shrugged off the boulder as if it was nothing. I charged towards numel with a headbutt, but before I could touch the numel, the flames between numel and I set one of my legs on fire.

I realized that defeating these Pokémon was easier said than done.

.

The flames were starting to overpower me, licking greedily at my metallic skin. My steel armor, which usually protected me against attacks, has now become a terrible burden, slowing me down and conducting terribly large amounts of heat all over me. The only thing that stopped me from passing out was my rocky core's resistance to fire, but even that won't allow me to last long. _I MUST find a way to put out these flames…when they're melting me, I can't even aim my attacks properly!_

Another patch of my skin had started to melt. _I'm sorry, trainer…I've tried my best to protect you, but it wasn't enough. We'll all perish in these flames…no more eating police donuts together and looking at the sprinkles on each other's face…no more training and playing happily with Sunblaze and Nightfang…no more embarrassing moments where I almost had a TM for lunch—wait, a TM? My trainer just got another TM. Maybe I can use it?_

.

I spotted the circular object sticking out of my trainer's bag. I was disappointed when I realized that it was blue, not brown. It looked like something for a water-type instead of a rock-type. Since I was out of other options, I used my remaining strength to grab the TM anyways, hoping that I could chuck it like a Frisbee on the houndour and deal a good amount of damage.

I was surprised when the TM resonated with me when I touched it. Compared to the TM I used this morning, the mental image projected by the disc felt more distant and foreign: a large body of freshwater that flowed from a bubbling stream, without a single cave in sight. It was a strange sight to me, a cave-dwelling Pokémon, but right now I longed for the bubbling stream, the clear and beautiful liquid, anything that could distance me from the destructive flames in my surroundings.

.

The TM blended into my body, and I suddenly had a large blue ball of energy between my front legs. I threw the blue energy towards the houndour. A huge geyser of water shot out of the ground, sweeping the houndour off its feet, along with the numel and the two red-clothed baddies. The flames hissed and died as I collapsed with exhaustion.

.

I resurfaced into consciousness and heard the two red-clothed humans moaning with pain. The female one seemed to be saying: "I'm not going to prison! They rape pretty girls like me in prison!"

I opened my heavy eyelids to see my trainer spraying a super potion—the only one she had—on me. My whole body hurt horribly, but the super potion rapidly took effect and several of my wounds closed up. I staggered to my feet. _How do humans make these sprays that are somehow more effective than berries?_

My trainer's words sliced through the air like a cold wind. "You don't want to go to prison? Very well. Silverdust, kill them."

Usually I would have hesitated about killing, but my anger overcame the hesitation this time. _These people and their Pokémon have caused so much pain to me, to my trainer, and to the other people they murdered. They deserve PUNISHMENT._

I quickly charged up a rock tomb and threw two sharp and heavy rocks onto the exposed necks of the red-clothed people. Then I turned away, not wanting to see their final struggles before death.

.

"T-thank you, Silverdust." Said Clara. Some of the old warmth and nervousness was seeping back into her voice, which comforted me. "Let's head back. It's graduation time."

* * *

Would you guys like any Pokémon x Pokémon relationships (e.g. Sunblaze x Nightfang) in the upcoming chapters?

Please read and review! I welcome any constructive feedback!


	5. Chapter 5: Graduation

**Chapter 5: Graduation**

Joycewu333 does not own Pokémon. I also do not own Pokémon CAWPS, it's a rom hack of Emerald made by Crizzle and this is just my own documented play through.

A big thank-you to Falneou17 for giving 4 reviews (one for each of the first four chapters) and for following this story! Your feedback and support is greatly appreciated! I know that the first two chapters have some room for improvement, and I would rewrite and/or combine them if I have time after finishing this fanfic.

I am grateful to nocloudypooh for giving another review and for following this story! Yes, there have been many deaths of both people and Pokémon in the story. This is because the game itself contains lots of "death scenes". I do realize that including so many deaths would make the story rather gruesome and make death somewhat pointless, so I will try to cut down on the number of deaths in this story. This chapter is much less violent than the last one.

Of course, I also need to thank Crizzle for completing Pokémon CAWPS and for recommending this fanfic on the hack's Pokécommunity page! Thanks to him, this story now has more than 200 views!

* * *

 _Italics = the narrator's thoughts_

Clara's team:

Silverdust (female aron) level 11 (Moves: headbutt, mud-slap, water pulse, rock tomb)

Sunblaze (male growlithe) level 11 (Moves: flamethrower, ember, bite, roar)

Nightfang (female poochyena) level 10 (Moves: tackle, howl, sand-attack)

Redspots (male wurmple) level 8 (Moves: tackle, string shot, poison sting)

* * *

Clara staggered into the Petalburg Pokémon center and handed her Pokéballs to Nurse Joy. Her trousers were burnt in several areas and her clothes were mud-streaked and torn.

"Welcome to the Pokémon center, cop!" Nurse Joy greeted. "You look like you need some rest yourself—you're just as battered up as your Pokémon! I'll help treat your burns and wounds while my chansey heals your team."

Clara thanked the nurse and rested in the Pokécenter for several hours, during which her wounds were cleaned, soaked in water and patched up with burn heals and loose gauze. After she and her Pokémon were healed, she made her way back to the Odale Police Academy.

.

Officer Flash grinned when he saw her. "You've made it!" He said proudly. "I was worried that you wouldn't survive the final task. I took in seven trainees this year, and two of them died during their tasks. I think they were burnt to death or something."

Clara vaguely recalled her six fellow trainees, who laughed at her and called her an idiot on her first day. Although she disliked them, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the two trainees who didn't survive.

Officer Flash glanced at his watch. "You took quite a while though. I've already teleported the other surviving trainees to the police HQ at Ever Grande City. Ah well, better late than never!"

He sent out a claydol, and teleported himself and Clara to the police HQ.

.

The police headquarters is right next to the entrance of the Pokémon league. A large, gray and plain-looking building, it has four floors and its floor area is about twice as large as the Lilycove Department Store. The first two floors are the police offices, where most police officers work alongside scientists and IT staff employed by the police force. The third floor houses a large multi-purpose hall and a media conference room. The fourth floor is used for training, with an indoor shooting range, a Pokémon center, a gym room for humans and several training rooms for Pokémon.

.

Clara and Officer Flash entered the multi-purpose hall along with the other four trainees and about thirty police officers. A young African American was already seated in the "trainees" section of the audience seats.

 _Who is this guy? He looks like he's around my age, but I don't remember him from police academy at all. Maybe I should ask him?_

"Er, Hi." Clara said. _This could be awkward…_

"WAZZUP?" came the reply.

"Um, I don't think I've seen you before at the Odale police academy…" Clara began.

"That's because I haven't been there! I'm Luther. I recently transferred to Hoenn from America after finishing my police training."

"Oh I see! My name is Clara, and I recently finished my training at the Odale police academy. Are you getting used to life in Hoenn?"

"It's been great so far! Hoenn's a strange but cool place. Clara, right? I look forward to working with you."

"Thank you," Clara replied. "But we'd better stop talking. The graduation ceremony is about to start."

 _Luther seems so cheerful._ She thought. _He probably survived his training because his casual attitude made criminals underestimate him. Or perhaps he's good at thinking on his feet._

.

A tall policeman with light steel blue hair entered the stage of the multi-purpose hall and gave a speech.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Steven Stone, the chief of Hoenn's police force. I was once the champion of Hoenn, but my current duty matters more—for without the security provided by the police force, no trainer can reach Ever Grande City alive with all 8 gym badges, and no civilian can live a safe life with their family, their friends and their Pokémon.

What you six young officers have done today is not easy. All the other trainees this year died trying to get where you are right now. Congratulations! You've shown the strength to be accepted as a Hoenn Police Officer!"

.

Steven paused for a moment to allow applause, then continued.

"You may rest and celebrate for now, but three days later, you will start your official job as police officers. You will be divided into three groups of two for your police missions. You will be assisted and supervised by a mentor—one of the top graduates from last year—during dangerous missions. You will answer to the senior officer in charge of your group: Officer Trent, Commander Molt or Captain Lane. May I invite these senior officers to present official police licenses, police badges cases and police uniforms to the graduating trainees."

Clara, Luther and the other trainees received their police items from the sturdy-looking Commander Molt, the stern-looking Captain Lane, and the cheerful-looking Officer Trent.

 _This is it! I'm finally a full-fledged police officer! I hope I can get along with my group members and group leader._

Clara returned to her seat and inspected her police badge case. A small letter "P" was carved on each badge, and there was an inscription at the back of the badge case:

"Policemen are not allowed to challenge gyms or the Pokémon league, unless they need to arrest law-breaking gym leaders. However, each police officer is given police versions of the 8 Hoenn gym badges. These badges are only for authorizing the use of hidden machine (HM) moves outside battle, allowing police officers to travel all around Hoenn to chase down their criminals."

After the graduation ceremony, Officer Flash and the six young graduates brought out the booze and partied hard in celebration of their great feat. Everyone and their Pokémon temporarily cast their worries aside. They had a police specialty combo: rum, cocaine, weed and of course, donuts. The cocaine and weed were ironically taken from the police's evidence room.

.

The next day, Clara sobered up and checked the newly updated police grouping list.

 _I'm in Officer Trent's group, along with an older graduate named Alexa and…Luther! Sounds good! Seems like we need to meet at Officer Trent's office on the second floor._

Luther was waiting for Clara outside Officer Trent's office. A woman with her hair dyed pink was also standing outside the office, with a pikachu by her side.

 _She must be Alexa. Her hairstyle and outfit are unusual for a police officer though—she looks like a Nurse Joy at first glance. Her pikachu looks pretty cute too. We're going to be working together in missions soon, so I'd better go and introduce myself._

"Hi, you're Alexa right? I'm Clara, one of the newly graduated trainees. Seems like we're both in Officer Trent's group."

Alexa glanced at Clara for a moment, as if sizing her up, before responding. "Yes, I'm your mentor Alexa. Last year, I was a new female graduate just like you. I've gotta warn you: being a female in a male-dominated profession isn't easy. I have to be vicious to make my colleagues respect me. I hope you have the guts to face the difficulties ahead."

 _It is indeed a male-dominated profession. All of the other surviving trainees are male._

"Now I'll tell you about some lessons I learned the hard way. DON'T treat these two days like a holiday. You'll have to train as hard as you can before you can handle your official duties. If you do well in your training sessions and your police missions, you'd be awarded useful TMs and extra donuts. If you do exceptionally well you might be promoted in rank—I've recently become a police mentor, and I aim to become the next police chief of Hoenn. If you don't do well…then you DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE."

 _Wow, she's not soft at all. She seems like a battle-hardened person and her eyes glow with a fierce determination. I wouldn't want to displease her._

"Thank you for your advice Alexa. I'll try my best." Clara replied.

.

Clara, Luther and Alexa entered the office, where Officer Trent greeted them.

"Welcome to the Hoenn police force, Clara and Luther! I'm Officer Trent, and I've been in the police force for about ten years. I've seen all kinds of conflict, drama, crime, danger and violence during my career. That's what makes this job so damn exciting!

Using your Pokémon to take down criminals and jerks is also exciting! But that can't be done without some powerful attacks. That's why I'm going to start off by giving both of you a copy of my favorite TM!"

Clara and Luther both received a tan-colored metallic disk. The number 42 was engraved on each disc.

"It's the TM for façade! It's a righteously awesome move that comes through in tough situations! And trust me, there will be some tough situations! I've lost a lot of friends on the job. You can make friends here, but don't get too attached!"

.

In the next two days, Clara learned more about the criminal gangs she had fought in Petalburg Woods: Team Magma specializes in kidnapping and assassinations, and it might be connected to Devon Corporation. Team Aqua specializes in counterfeiting and theft. Both are involved in the illegal drug trade. Several gym leaders have become corrupt, and are doing nothing to help stop the villainous teams. Juan and Wallace, two former gym leaders, have even become a serial rapist duo.

Clara also trained with her Pokémon on the Police HQ's fourth floor.

*Silverdust's POV*

We were practicing battle moves in the "grinding hall", as Clara called it. Clara was exercising on a gym treadmill. Redpots was spewing lots of silk on a nearby pillar: he seemed to be improving the speed and stickiness of his string shot. Sunblaze was strengthening his bite attack by gnawing at a plastic bone. Nightfang was trying out her newly learned façade on some sandbags, although she often lost her balance before she could knock the sandbags over. _Before using the façade TM, her only offensive move was tackle. She'll take a while to learn how to dish out some real damage. Should I give her some tips?_

"Silverdust, stop daydreaming and start training!" My trainer's loud voice broke into my train of thought. "You're supposed to practice on these straw dummies so that you can learn metal claw, remember?"

.

I nodded and turned towards the three dummies set up before me. Claws outstretched, I attacked the dummy in the middle…only to knock it over instead of slicing it in half. I tried again with the dummy on the left, taking care not to knock it over, but this time my blows were feeble, barely grazing my "opponent". I dashed towards the dummy on the right, trying to put as much power into my claws as possible, but I somehow dug my claws into the floor before I could reach the dummy. I paused to catch my breath and to imagine how silly I must look right now.

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH SILVERDUST!" Clara yelled angrily. "We've been training for a day and a half and you still haven't learned metal claw? I thought a basic steel-type move like that would be easy for you to learn!"

.

I sighed and looked down at my short and stubby claws, wondering how I was supposed to learn metal claw when I have never used my claws in battle in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Redspots asked with concern. He had just finished covering the rest of his pillar with silk.

"I think so, but *huff* I'm a bit worried." I replied. "Clara's becoming very harsh these days, like *huff* your previous trainer…can't she see that I've *huff* tried my best and I'm *huff* very tired already?"

"I think she's just scared of losing you. You know we were almost burned to death in Petalburg Woods. She wants you to get stronger as soon as possible, so that you won't be killed by the next criminal."

 _But she doesn't have to keep yelling at me like that. She could observe my failed attempts and try to give me some suggestions for improvement…then again, she isn't a Pokémon, so it might be difficult for her to do that._

"I guess so…speaking of getting stronger, what do you want to evolve into? A silcoon or a cascoon?" I asked.

"Hmm…I think I'm going to evolve into a cascoon. I enjoy using my poisonous silk maneuver—something I had come up with to avoid being destroyed by the slakoth and taillow in the woods—and a beautifly won't be able to execute that. Besides, I think I would prefer the internal tranquility of a dustox to the external beauty of a beautifly." Redspots replied.

"Nice answer!" I commented.

"Thanks! I've thought about this question myself for quite a while. About learning metal claw…how about you spar against me?" Redspots suggested. "It might be easier for you to learn a new attack in the middle of a battle—when you feel like you need it. And I'll be able to work towards my evolution too."

"Nice idea!" I replied. "Ok, you attack and I'll try to counter-attack."

.

Within seconds, my hind legs were glued to the floor by layers of thin, fine silk. Using a gentle water pulse, I weakened the adhesive silk and started pulling out my legs, only to be rammed into the floor by Redspots' powerful tackle. I quickly regained my balance and stood on my hind legs, focusing my energy into only the claws of my front legs, which have started to shine with a silvery light. I felt them hardening and sharpening rapidly as I charged towards Redspots, and I slashed at his exoskeleton. Redspots winced in pain.

 _So THAT's how you do it._ I thought triumphantly, then realized that I had left a nasty-looking gash on Redspot's left side. _Oops…have I gone too far?_

I breathed a sigh of relief when Redspots produced an oran berry and started munching on it. His wound closed rapidly, leaving only a long scar.

"Thank you Redspots!" I exclaimed gratefully.

"You're…welcome…Silverdust…" Redspots panted. "You have…helped me…as well." He started to glow brightly as he spun silk around himself. When the light died down, he had become a cascoon.

.

"Your training method looks pretty useful, Dusty." Sunblaze commented. "I'll try it out myself with Nightfang."

"Sure, but don't call me 'Dusty'." I replied.

"Why not? It suits you." Sunblaze insisted.

"Dusty! Dusty!" Nightfang joined in.

Redspots winked at me, as if telling me not to mind their teasing. I nodded and walked outside the room to get some rest.

.

*Redspots' POV*

I felt warm and confortable within my newly made cocoon, but I couldn't move an inch as I had to conserve energy for my metamorphosis into dustox. At least I could still see using the two large red "eyepieces" on the cocoon. I glanced at Sunblaze and Nightfang, who had been sparring against each other for the past half hour.

Sunblaze tried to bite Nightfang, but Nightfang countered with sand-attack, causing Sunblaze to stop and spit sand out of his mouth. The growlithe strikes back with ember, leaving Nightfang with a burn. The poochyena whimpered as the flames seared her pelt, and she went limp. Then she suddenly sprang at Sunblaze and knocked his legs out from under him, causing him to shriek in pain and topple into a nearby sandpit.

"W-wow, Nightfang…" Sunblaze said as he staggered to his feet, "that was…MUCH better than your last attempt."

*Clara's POV*

These two days of training have been fruitful overall. I might have been a bit harsh on my Pokémon, but my harshness was worth it. My Pokémon team had become stronger, I had become fitter, and I had also been rewarded with the TM for sludge bomb for my hard work.

I wonder what challenges await me in the days ahead. No matter how many criminals cross my way, I should be able to eliminate them in battle before they harm anyone or anything I care about. At least, I hope so.

* * *

Note: In-game the police HQ has only the first two floors. I added the other floors in the story to make it seem more like a police building. I also made some other minor changes to make the story flow better.

Only 6 new police officers per year is reasonable, given Hoenn's population of (according to Bulbapedia) about 600-700 people.

Luther directly mentions in the hack that he's from America (and not, say, Unova or something like that).

Please read and review!


End file.
